We’ve used Lenovo laptops for a long time, back when they were IBM computers. They are usually good machines with excellent keyboards, pricey but generally reliable. So it’s with great dismay they we’ve been reading about Lenovo and the ‘Superfish’ software that was installed on some of their computers in
Is your solid state drive getting near the end of its life? Here’s how to find out. Solid State Drives (SSD’s) are a great option for anyone looking to speed up the computer, especially Outlook. Starting up Windows and major programs like Outlook is noticeably faster. Either get an SSD
Miracast gives you a wireless external screen for PowerPoint and a lot more. Miracast is a clever trick that lets you wirelessly connect some Windows 8.1 portable computers, Android and other devices to any HDMI capable monitor or TV screen. All you need is a Miracast dongle available online for
A guide to getting more life and value from your printer. The Guardian has a nice little guide to maintaining an inkjet printer and saving money. We’ve never had good experiences with recycled ink or toner cartridges and have always found their quality to be poor. But others swear by
A funny item in Britain’s Viz magazine. Viz magazine is a British institution and not to everyone’s taste, including ours. But this recent item struck a chord. Printer Prints What Man Wanted it to Print With a happy ending where the printer maker honors its warranty promising: “We will happily
Group calling returns to the Skype ‘free’ list. Good news for Skype lovers, group calling has returned to the list of free features. You can now add group calling to our list of Skype hidden extras Group calling is having three or more people on the same video/audio call. Microsoft
Easyjet lets you leave your device on all the time – even takeoff and landing. European airline, Easyjet has introduced unrestricted handheld device use. You can use your phone, tablet, ebook reader anytime while on the plane, as long as it’s in ‘Flight Mode’ (i.e all wireless communications off; Wifi,
Save money, you don’t always need to pay for the ‘Pro’ version of Windows. In Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, Microsoft has ‘Business’, ‘Professional’ or ‘Ultimate’ versions which, among other features, can login to a Windows domain. This has the effect of forcing organizations to buy a more
Amazon has an amazing deal … Windows 8 Pro upgrade for just $1.74 more than the standard upgrade. Who doesn’t like a nice, juicy pricing anomaly? Especially when it’ll save you money. The official upgrade prices for Windows 8 (for users of Windows 7, Vista or XP) start at $120.
Have some fun with calls from ‘Microsoft Support’ We’d hope that all Office-Watch.com readers know to ignore any unsolicited calls from ‘Microsoft Support’ saying you have viruses on your computer. They are a scam to get remote control of your computer. The best thing to do is hang up the
Upload photos automatically from smartphones. One of the features of Skydrive/OneDrive is the ‘Camera Roll’ or ‘Camera Backup’, it’s a simple and automatic way to copy photos between some devices. Is it ‘Camera Roll’ or ‘Camera Backup’? Microsoft uses both terms, depending on where you look. Most commonly from your
How to recover deleted files in OneDrive. Skydrive/OneDrive retains deleted files for 30 days or until the Recycle Bin exceeds 10% of your allowed storage space. This feature works much the same way as the Recycle Bin in Windows and it’s called ‘Recycle Bin’ down on the bottom left of
Sync your OneDrive folders automatically The free Skydrive/OneDrive program is available for Windows and Mac. Windows 8.1 users don’t need OneDrive software because it’s ‘baked into’ the operating system itself. It will synchronize your cloud storage with local folders, saving you the hassle of manually uploading/downloading each file. All the
A simple guide to sending files via Skydrive / OneDrive There are many ways to send files that are too big for email (usually over 20MB). In this article we’ll look at how to do that with Skydrive. Skydrive, soon to be called, OneDrive is Microsoft’s public cloud storage service.
One of the best Dropbox features – Camera Upload One of the nice features of Dropbox is the ‘Camera Roll’, it’s a simple and automatic way to copy photos between devices. Most commonly from your smartphone (Apple, Android) to your computer. It works automatically and often takes only seconds from
How to recover files deleted from Dropbox storage Dropbox retains deleted files for 30 days. You can see those files from the web site. Click on the ‘Show deleted files’ button top-right. Click on the ‘open’ trash can to hide deleted files. Click on a deleted file to see the
If you put a file up on Dropbox, how does anyone know it’s there? If you put a file up on Dropbox, how does anyone know it’s there? Obviously you can tell them, by email, phone or even face-to-face! Or they can check the shared folder for anything new. Happily
Use Dropbox for sharing Office documents and collaboration on editing, but it’s not ideal. Another use for Dropbox is sharing Office documents and collaboration on editing, but it’s not ideal. With Office 2013 you can do this better with Skydrive because Microsoft’s own cloud storage allows simultaneous collaboration – in
Getting the free Dropbox software. The free Dropbox program is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It will synchronize your cloud storage with local folders, saving you the hassle of manually uploading/downloading each file. All the file transfers happen in the background. Dropbox software is the best and easiest way
See a word translated across a map of Europe You have to hand it to The Guardian newspaper, they have an impressive Data Store section with both raw data and interesting presentations of it. Their latest is a clever use of the Google Translate API to present a map of
Is your net access better or worse, cheap or costly compared to other countries? BBC Online has an interesting – though hardly scientific – look at Internet access around the world. Think you’ve got it bad — try a ‘gold’ package with just 4GB for £75 a month (US$119) in
An extended report on our Editor-in-Chief’s visit to Christmas Island or Kiritimati. Kiritimati is a largely unknown dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – Google Maps. Known in English as ‘Christmas Island’ though there’s two islands of that name, the other is an Australian territory in the Indian
A good explanation of web & email encryption plus how it’s crippled by the US government. Discover Magazine has a good explanation of the maths behind encryption used in web secure pages and email. It’s somewhat misleadingly headlined “How to create codes that even the NSA can’t break“. The article
Linux developers think ahead, I mean waaaay ahead. Gotta hand it to Linux developers, they think ahead. “At 15:30:08 UTC on Sun, 4 December 292,277,026,596 …. 64-bit based Unix time stamps will overflow as the time stamp will exceed the register space; save your alarm, however, as this is much
